Shade Never Made Anybody Less Gay
by keephie-13
Summary: Tam x Keefe, inspired by Taylor Swift's song "You Need To Calm Down". Yay for cheesy puns! Had to fit in some sort of LGBTQ fanfiction before the end of Pride Month. Oneshot.


Tam took a deep breath.

Then another.

And another.

He went over his perfectly rehearsed speech in his head, down to the last line. He was ready. He could do this. Yet he still hesitated when he reached for the brass knocker of Candleshade, his clammy fingers curling around the handle.

_Lord Cassius isn't home,_ he reminded himself._ Just Keefe. You can't keep denying your feelings any longer. So just get it over with. _With that, Tam rapped the knocker against the door three times in quick succession.

No one answered for a few moments and Tam began to panic. Maybe he had knocked too quietly and Keefe hadn't heard him. Or maybe too loudly and Keefe would think it was rude. Maybe he should have knocked slower. Maybe he-

"Hi," Keefe said, opening the grand wooden front door of the towering house. "What's up?" He seemed perfectly at ease, if a bit confused as to why Tam was standing on his doorstep and sweating nervously. His blonde hair was perfectly disheveled, as usual, and that made Tam want to muss it up a bit himself. But he cleared the thought from his mind.

"Keefe- I-" He gulped. All the words of his pre-rehearsed speech had flown from his mind, like a flock of birds when a human approached.

"Yes?" Keefe asked expectantly, leaning his tall, lanky body against the door frame. "What is it, Bangs Boy?"

Tam noted the use of the familiar nickname, which gave him a small spurt of courage. "I- I like you Keefe Sencen, and that's all there is to say. I know you'll hate me now, so I'll just leave now. Have a nice day." He turned as if to walk away, but a strong hand clamped him on the shoulder.

"Hate you? No, actually, quite the opposite," Keefe said, and though he seemed to be perfectly relaxed and in control of the situation, Tam could tell after months of careful observation that he was nervous. Call him creepy, call him a stalker, but Tam couldn't help but take in every detail of Keefe's face whenever he saw him. After all, he hadn't thought he would ever get a closer look at the blonde boy's face, so he decided to take what he got.

"What? Wait, you-"

Keefe cut him off. "Yes, I love you, you fool. I'm surprised you didn't notice it earlier. I just never thought you would ever reciprocate," he added, pulling Tam into a tight embrace. The hug was more than just platonic, but not crossing any major lines. It was still just a hug. Tam blushed as he mumbled, "Same."

"What about if anyone else finds out, though? Did you think about that at all? I know I love you, but we can't be public about this. Gay pairs are automatically marked Bad Matches in the Lost Cities. Not to mention looked down upon for the rest of their lives." He looked genuinely worried, and the anxiety was far more noticeable this time.

Tam thought for a moment before simply shrugging. "After all we've been through, I think we can deal with it. If the Council won't change their minds about legalizing same-sex marriage, then who cares? I'm already looked down upon for being a twin. Besides, shade never made anybody less gay."

"Is that a Shade pun you just made? It is, isn't it? Tam just made a pun? What happened to you?"

"You happened," Tam replied, before flushing by the cheesy words he'd just said. He mentally smacked himself. He couldn't keep up his shady persona if he kept making puns and flirting with the cringiest lines he could think of. Then he realized maybe he didn't have to, at least not around Keefe. After all, Keefe didn't seem to mind.

"I guess you're right," he said after some thought. "We can handle it. If they want to look down on us, so be it. Because I'm not pretending to love someone else when you're the only one I want." And he wrapped his arms around Tam, kissing the shorter boy right there on the doorstep of Candleshade for the world to see.

**A/N: Thanks Taylor, gotta say I love your new song :D When I heard that line, I immediately thought of Tam, because he's a Shade, and I totally ship him with Keefe.**


End file.
